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Thursday, March 28, 2013

"Astonishing craftsman duplex in the heart of Glendale. The front house has been completely remodeled. Must come to see. John Wayne's childhood home."

John Wayne was born in Iowa, but moved to Glendale when he was four and attended Wilson Middle School and Glendale High School, where he played football for the 1924 champion team. Legend has it that a local fireman first called Wayne "L'il Duke" because Wayne always walked to school with his dog, Duke.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

I went to two community forums, have personally spoken with most of the candidates, have been attacked at a city council meeting by one of them (!), and talked to dozens and dozens of Glendale residents about who they support and why. And of course, I've been watching the incumbents on the dais for years. The research phase is over.

I endorse Laura Friedman, Sam Engel and Ara Najarian for City Council. Particularly at the candidate forums, they were much, much better informed than the rest of the field; usually by a large margin. The incumbents have a huge advantage in that they have been dealing with these issues day in and day out for four years, but in my opinion none of the non-incumbents besides Engel (and occasionally Roland Kedikian*) showed they could handle the complexities of managing our fine city.

Sam Engel recently retired from years of service to the city as Neighborhood Services Administrator, and at the candidate forums showed a detailed understanding of Glendale issues and neighborhoods. I believe his years of experience would be an asset on the council. He and Laura are also the only City Council candidates to be endorsed by the LA County Democratic party.

I'm voting Ardashes Kassakhianfor City Clerk. Ardy has encouraged me many times over the years to post more items encouraging voter registration and participation at city meetings and events, and has taken many proactive measures to promote the city and make public information available online. I believe him to be an honest and competent City Clerk.

I've paid less attention to this than the city council race, but after talking to many people who pay closer attention to the school board than I, I am comfortable voting for incumbents Joylene Wagner, Chris Walters, Greg Krikorian...and newcomer Dan Cabrera. Of course, you can only vote for three, but I've heard many good things about the incumbents and think Dan Cabrera is a great guy. So there you go.

YES on Measure A"Shall the Charter be amended to convert the position of City Treasurer from elected to an appointed position; the appointment be made by the City Manager; be at-will; that the City Manager may assign certain duties to other deputies or the Director of Finance; that the minimum qualifications shall be in the Charter by reference to the Government Code; that the bond and oath of the City Clerk be filed with the City Attorney?"
For me, the best case for Measure A is this particular election: there's only one candidate for treasurer who is even willing to run! The person entrusted to manage the city's money should be the best person in a pool of qualified applicants, not literally the only person willing to run for office.

Cities with elected treasurers also had more debt on average, were more likely to have directly elected mayors and clerks, and had lower per capita income and a less educated population  all of which could also influence borrowing costs. Controlling for those factors, cities with appointed treasurers paid 13 percent less to borrow than cities with elected treasurers.

To get at the issue of causality, this study further refines the sample to examine the 31 cities that held a referendum during the period to replace an elected treasurer with an appointed one. Ten cities approved such a change. From that sample, he finds that cities spend 23 percent less to borrow money if they have an appointed treasurer.

No on Measure A (their original endorsement said that the council would appoint the treasurer, it has since been updated to reflect that the city manager would appoint the treasurer with the approval of the council)

YES on Measure B"Shall the Charter be amended to update accounting provisions to eliminate obsolete funds and to reflect generally accepted accounting principles, to ensure proper accounting by establishing separate water and electric utility funds, and to clarify existing language regarding fund transfers?"

Measure B brings existing city budget and utility revenue accounting and transfer practices up to date with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. We should eliminate the contortions required to conform with accounting practices last defined in an era when it was still a great idea to put swastikas on lamp posts.

NO on Measure C"Shall the Charter be amended to reflect the correct title of the Director of Finance, remove obsolete language regarding petty cash handling, require that the budget be adopted by June 30, and eliminate inefficiencies in bond sales by allowing flexibility?"

I'm voting no on Measure C because it opens the door for conflicts of interest by Wall Street firms seeking influence in municipal elections. The SEC has called the municipal bond market "illiquid and opaque" and their investigations have found that bond firms made pay-to-play political contributions to get contracts, engaged in questionable sales practices and excessively marked up bond prices. Though Measure C may have some other benefits, those must be weighed against the risk of possible future malfeasance.

*Though I am not endorsing him in this election, I want to give an honorable mention to Roland Kedikian. I believe that in this election, Sam, Ara and Laura are a better choice, but he impressed me at the forums with his reasoned thinking and dignified manner. I hope he stays involved with city politics.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

The Grand Central Air Terminal, the elegant but long-neglected centerpiece of Glendale’s role in aviation history, is finally going to get the restoration it deserves. Glendale’s Historic Preservation Commission voted unanimously to approve Disney’s plan for the restoration of Grand Central, which includes extensive structural stabilization and seismic upgrades, restoration of the exterior and rehabilitation of significant interior spaces so the building can be adaptively reused as a visitor center, offices and event space for the surrounding Disney Grand Central Creative Complex. According to the 2000 agreement between Glendale and Disney (pdf link), limited public access is required, probably through a reservation system. There will be a media wall and interpretive displays illuminating the history of Grand Central. Excitingly, many of the renderings show an airplane out front. An actual airplane (or two!) in front of Grand Central would provide historical context in a way no media wall can.

I spoke at the meeting to comment on the Grand Central Air Terminal proposal. Here's what I said:

I really like the proposal. I have 3 comments:

1. I understand that Disney is only required to provide "limited public access" through a reservation system, but I would hope that as a gesture of goodwill toward the community Disney will increase the scope of public access and not require reservations to visit the terminal. Perhaps in addition to the historical displays they could even add rotating exhibits of items from the Disney Archives, which are located nearby, to encourage the public to visit and learn about the rich history of both the Grand Central Air Terminal and the Walt Disney Company. I recently visited the Reagan Library, and there was a temporary exhibit of Disney memorabilia there that was very well attended. It would also be great if local non-profits such as Ascencia or The Glendale Historical Society could use the event space for fundraisers in what will be the most beautiful and historic building in Glendale.

2. In the proposal, having a plane on the taxiway is presented as a mere "possibility." Having a plane out front is a fantastic idea that instantly provides historical context in a way no "media wall" possibly can. I would recommend at least two planes: a twin engined DC-3 airliner, which occupies the taxiway in many of the most iconic photographs of the Grand Central Air Terminal; and also a P-38 Lighting*, the sleek twin-tailed fighter that operated from Grand Central in great numbers during World War Two.

A P-38 flying out of Grand Central.

3. I also would like to suggest allowing limited public access to the control tower itself, which the proposal mentions cannot be "legally" used as it contains only one means of access. I'm not sure if the city could grant an exemption of some kind to allow access, or perhaps visitors could sign a waiver before entering. I'm sure the views from up there are great. It would be especially cool if that area were restored to the way it looked when Grand Central was a functioning airport and give visitors an evocative glimpse into this piece of Glendale, and now Disney, history.

The HPC approved the project unanimously with 2 conditions -- that Disney add a beacon element to the control tower, and use glass in one area for historical accuracy -- and 2 considerations, which the commission cannot require Disney to do but request they consider: allow greater public access than required in the 2000 development agreement and place an airplane of the appropriate period on the site.

The Air Terminal building and control tower at 1310 Air Way is just about all that remains from Glendale’s once thriving Grand Central Airport. Grand Central was the departure site for the nation’s first regularly scheduled coast to coast flight, piloted by Charles Lindbergh. Other famous names in aviation who flew from Grand Central include Amelia Earhart, Wiley Post, Jack Northrop and Howard Hughes. The airport became a military base during WWII, and was used to train pilots to fly the P-38 Lightning fighter. The airport closed in the late 1950s and the area has been offices and warehouses ever since. The Air Terminal building itself fell into disrepair in the early 1990s, and Disney purchased the building in 1997.

Some plans and renderings from the proposal are below.

I highly recommend looking through the whole report, there are many great details:

* City Clerk Ardy Kassakhian is an aviation buff and has been saying a P-38 should be out front for years, so credit to him for that. I also know that P-38s are staggeringly rare, a replica would be fine, perhaps with the markings of a unit that actually flew from Grand Central during WWII.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

City Council Candidate Zareh Sinanyan took the opportunity to clear the air Tuesday night against allegations that he was responsible for a large volume of hateful comments on Youtube over a period of several years. You can stream the full meeting if you wish. This exchange begins at approximately 2:51.ARA NAJARIANOnce and far all, let’s be clear about it. Zareh, you deny these comments, is that correct?ZAREH SINANYANMr. Najarian, I answered the question twice. One correction; I was appointed to CBDG in 2008 by Bob Yousefian; Ms. Friedman removed me in 2009, you merely reappointed me. Thank you. I answered the same question, I’m happy to talk about city issues, but I can’t be brought back to answer the same question over and over again. I stated in my paper, that's it, I answered. So, with that in mind... [moves to sit down]LAURA FRIEDMANWait, wait - you said they're ‘not you.’ Did you write those posts? Did you write any of the Youtube posts that were attributed to you?”ZAREH SINANYANIt’s not a simple question. It’s not a simple question.LAURA FRIEDMANHow is that not a simple question?ZAREH SINANYANIt’s not a simple question because…I don’t know what I’m looking at. I don’t know what I’m looking at because…a certain blogger, who’s related to you, very closely, keeps threatening that there are more posts, that these are posts, that there’s this, there’s that…this happened, that happened. So…unless I see what it is that I’m being faced with, I’m not answering that question more so than I’ve already answered it.LAURA FRIEDMANThere are several Youtube comments on that blog with your name on them. I’m sure you saw those. Did you write any of those posts that have your name on them that were on that blog? It’s a very simple question.ZAREH SINANYANPersonally I haven’t been on that blog, nor do I care to, but I know what’s on it because it’s been conveyed to me. I answered the question, you can ask me five more times, and you’re going to get the same answer.LAURA FRIEDMANYou’re not denying having written any of those?ZAREH SINANYANI told you that these are not my statements, they don’t reflect me, they don’t reflect my qualities…LAURA FRIEDMANI understand they "don’t 'reflect' your qualities," but did you WRITE them?ZAREH SINANYANI am telling you that I am investigating this issue and trying to understand. You’re asking me to answer about something… [indignant] they don’t reflect me, I don’t write stuff like that. You can’t bring one person who will say that Zareh talks like that, Zareh acts like that, Zareh writes like that. That’s the point.

1. The comment was posted 5 years ago by the same Zareh Sinanyan now running for Glendale City Council

2. The comment was posted 5 years ago by some other Zareh Sinanyan, not the person currently running for Glendale City Council, but also a business litigator

3. The comment was posted 5 years ago by some nasty person using the name "Zareh Sinanyan", knowing that Zareh Sinanyan would be a political candidate sometime in the future, and that the comment could then be used to smear him

4. The comment was posted anonymously 5 years ago under a pseudonym that due to Google+ and YouTube interaction later became linked to the real name of Zareh Sinanyan

The simple fact is that makes #4 by far the most likely option is that the comment was posted to YouTube 5 years ago - unless you believe that YouTube, which is owned by Google, the world's largest and most secure website, is in on the "conspiracy."

Additional evidence against the possibility of a nasty person impersonating Mr. Sinanyan is that somehow, that person would need to:

in addition to the vulgar and racist posts; have the literary imagination to write dozens of comments about Armenian and Russian history, completely banal posts (“Wow, ribeye steak in Yerevan!”), and otherwise maintain a lively online life with lots of back and forth comments on dozens of threads over a half a decade period

somehow get into Mr. Sinanyan’s Google account to merge it with the Youtube account WITHOUT Mr. Sinanyan knowing or realizing the two had been merged, since Mr. Sinanyan apparently continued to use the Google account normally after the two were merged

Why would any impersonator conduct a thorough cover-up of the damaging posts right after the e-mail with the tip had been circulated but before most of the public was aware of the allegations?

Would an impostor really go to the trouble of creating FIVE YEARS worth of fake posts, then not leave them up online for the world to see? Wouldn’t they leave them up instead of hoping local media could put the pieces together using incomplete cached versions of the comments? I’ve found dozens of very nasty posts in the cached versions of the comments, but those who viewed the original e-mail and looked through the full set of comments made by the Youtube account before the cover-up saw many, many more incriminating posts that were deleted and not cached.

Which explanation is most likely to be true?

As with any event that one does not personally witness, you can only verify information to a degree of probability based on the evidence available. And every single piece of publicly available evidence in this matter thus far points to a high probability that Mr. Sinanyan was responsible for the content of the posts and attempted to hide his connection to the Youtube and Google account when knowledge of the obscene comments became public.

Most importantly, it was covered in this agenda item for this Tuesday’s City Council meeting (PDF), where the City Council will inquire into whether Mr. Sinanyan authored the comments. Mr. Sinanyan serves as a commissioner at the pleasure of the council, so if a majority of the council believes it’s likely he is responsible for the comments and that it is damaging to the reputation of the city to have him continue as a Community Block Grant commissioner, they are free to remove him from his appointed position.

Among Zareh supporters in the comment section on my previous posts (first post, second post) there there have been five main defenses against the allegations. As it is impractical for me to respond to each individual comment, here are the main defenses I've heard and a detailed response to each one.

**warning: many of the image links below contain offensive content**

1. It was a smear campaign by an anonymous source/shady political operative/Turkish Intelligence!

While I’m sure Mr. Sinanyan does have political enemies, and the timing is potentially damaging to his City Council campaign, these observations do nothing to challenge the volume of third-party evidence that shows that he is very likely to have said was is alleged to have said. As I documented in my previous posts, I did not publish any information from the original anonymous e-mail that was sent to many in Glendale without investigating it myself, verifying the links between the account that made the comments and Sinanyan's confirmed accounts and describing my process. The Glendale News-Press also investigated the claims and came to similar conclusions. Every bit of information alleged in the initial anonymous e-mail was verifiable by third party sources with no stake in the election, including the cached files of several of the world’s largest and most secure tech companies. The technical skills required to uncover the comments initially weren’t hacker-level ninjitsu - anyone who has ever used a search engine could find them just as easily by simply typing the candidate’s name into Google or Yahoo. It would be a smear campaign against Mr. Sinanyan if the allegations weren’t true, but as one commenter noted, using someone’s racist and vulgar statements to portray them as being racist and vulgar isn’t a smear; it’s accountability.

And yes, I did get a comment blaming it on Turkish Intelligence, as well as numerous anonymous comments decrying the anonymity of the original tip with no apparent sense of irony.

2. He was only attacking people who were denying the Armenian Genocide.

3. The comments weren’t really so bad! Who hasn’t gotten into a heated argument online?

I certainly have. But not like this, this or this. Especially disturbing are the numerous posts referring to Muslims as “raghead cockroaches” and wishing them death. I have many, many more examples of these comments that will singe your hair. The sheer volume and inventiveness of obscenity is stunning. If you think this is acceptable language for a candidate for higher office, so be it, but it would be far-fetched for Mr. Sinanyan to claim that he didn’t know that city commissioners and candidates for elected office would be held to a higher standard of behavior than the average Youtube flame-war participant.

4. Perhaps Sinanyan wrote the comments, but an anonymous hacker got into his home computer and made them public! That hacker should be prosecuted!

The allegations in the initial anonymous e-mail had nothing to do with linking the comments to a specific computer or IP address; the allegations are linked to Sinanyan via his Google account, which he could log into from any computer he had access to. The comments themselves were openly published online and didn’t require any “hacking” to view - they were all freely visible under Mr. Sinanyan’s name. Additionally, the connections shown between the Youtube account and the Google account were all made using information that Mr. Sinanyan himself had chosen to make public in various online profiles, no special access or “hacking” required.

5. He didn’t write the comments at all - he was hacked by an impostor!

"When this issue was brought to his attention on Tuesday, Congressman Schiff immediately directed his staff to inform the Sinanyan campaign that he was withdrawing his endorsement. In the letter to the Sinanyan campaign from his campaign, Schiff confirmed that he could not support anyone who made such deeply offensive and bigoted statements."

The letter sent by Congressman's staff is below:

"It has been alleged that Mr. Sinanyan may have posted deeply offensive and bigoted messages on websites and social media platforms. We certainly hope that this is not the case, and that he has no connection to the vile comments that are being attributed to him.

Until this matter is resolved, however, Mr. Schiff must withdraw his endorsement and ask that his name not be included on any campaign materials. The comments alleged are deeply disturbing and not befitting any member of the public let alone one seeking to represent the city on an elected body."

Here's some background on the allegations that I published on Tuesday: I received a tip about the comments on Monday morning via an anonymous e-mail. I know others in Glendale received the same e-mail, and I've had several people contact me this week (before I published my post) asking if I knew about the alleged comments. So I didn't uncover the comments per se, though I was the first person to publish them besides Sinanyan himself. When I first received the e-mail, I checked and verified that all of the comments were online from the account linked to Sinanyan's name, that all of the timestamps were correct (since some of the posts go back five years), and I verified that all of the information in the screen captures I received was accurate and not Photoshopped. And indeed, all of the comments were publicly available online at Youtube at that time, with that time stamp information, under the name Zareh Sinanyan. I also looked at other comments made by the same account, and there were dozens, maybe hundreds of additional comments, all similarly vulgar. By Monday afternoon the comments started disappearing from YouTube, presumably as Sinanyan got word that people were poking around his comment history. Also, I believe that for most of the account's history, it was an "anonymous" account -- but that Sinanyan unwisely chose to link his YouTube account to his Google Plus account, which retroactively revealed him as the author of the formerly anonymous comments.

"I can't believe the amount of people who have given these accusations any real merit. What if I took your name and doctored comments on your behalf, passing them out to your neighbors saying you're a thief? What would you do?These are a fool's attempt to discredit Zareh, who is the right choice for this city."

To address the very valid concerns of this commenter:

I fully agree with you that it would be terrible if someone doctored comments to incriminate a candidate. I am very concerned about that very possibility when dealing with anonymously sourced information. As a result, I took extensive steps to verify myself that all of the comments in the screen captures I received were accurate with what had been published online over a period of many years. In doing so, I concluded that the images I received were not doctored, that the comments were easily findable, on many sites, and part of a much larger pattern of vitriolic comments going back years. Most of the trail of comments is still online in some form. Googling "Zareh Sinanyan" and various obscenities yields many results on many sites over a long period of time.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Glendale City Council candidate Zareh Sinanyan, who has garnered an impressive amount of financial and political support, rather foolishly, and under his own name*, appears to have left an astonishingly filthy and vitriolic trail of vulgar, bullying, homophobic, anti-Muslim, and racist comments on youtube going back 5 years. I understand that people get worked up online sometimes, but man, these are pretty astoundingly vile. In light of these comments, I won't be voting for Zareh, which is too bad, as he made a good impression on me at the candidate forums. Many of the comments have since been deleted, but before they were removed I did verify that they were online from the account linked to his name -- specifically the comment where, in the course of a rant, he mentions being a business litigator. Take a look at the comments and see for yourself. The comments go back over five years, so if someone was to try to frame him, they would have to go back in time to do it. The screen captures below are also but a small sampling of the comments left -- most have since been deleted, but there were hundreds. At the Glendale City Council meeting tonight, Sinanyan's removal from the Community Development Block Grant committee was added to the agenda for next week's council meeting. Zareh will be there to defend himself, so the meeting promises to be quite interesting.